The pharmacist-in-charge at a SanfordCVS told federal drug agents that customers would ask for "the M's" or "the blues" — street slang for the painkiller oxycodone — but he didn't think such a request was suspicious.

At his store and another CVS in Sanford — both of which were prohibited from dispensing certain drugs by the DEA in February — pharmacists repeatedly dispensed oxycodone to customers who lived in Kentucky, obtained their prescriptions from South Florida doctors, then bought the drugs in Seminole County.

Despite the questionable circumstances, the pharmacists working at the CVS stores on Orlando Drive and West First Street filled prescriptions for millions of oxycodone pills in recent years.

CVS's misconduct at the two Sanford pharmacies was deemed so egregious by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administrator Michele Leonhart that she bannedthe pharmacies from dispensing controlled substances — which include OxyContin, Vicodin, Ritalin and Xanax, among others .

The measure was the first of its kind taken against a national retail-pharmacy chain. It is part of DEA's ongoing efforts to curb Florida's prescription-drug epidemic.

Details about the DEA's investigation into the Central Florida pharmacies and Leonhart's order were recently made public. In those documents, CVS employees explained how they operated and whom they prescribed to, and identified the region's top-prescribing doctors.

"The evidence against the two CVS pharmacies is clear that they traded their sense of responsibility to public safety for sheer profit with their gross negligence to detect the diversion of prescription drugs," Mark Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA's Miami division, saidin a prepared statement.

CVS tried to fight the ban, arguing there wasn't enough evidence against the company and contesting other issues raised by the DEA. But the company'sarguments weren't enough to persuade federal authorities.

CVS/pharmacy spokesman Mike DeAngelis did not answer specific questions about issues raised in Leonhart's order. But in an emailed statement, DeAngelis said: "We have responded to the DEA's concerns by enhancing our policies and procedures for filling controlled substance prescriptions."

"We remain committed to working with the DEA and other regulatory and law enforcement agencies to reduce prescription drug abuse ... while ensuring access to appropriate, effective pain medications for our patients who need them."

DEA saw 'red flags'

A key component of the government's evidence was testimony from Paul Doering, a professor at the University of Florida's College of Pharmacy who was asked to review the case.

Doering opined that there were red flags when customers came into the Sanford stores who lived out of state, saying he could not"foresee any explanation for this set of red flags that would satisfy my professional obligation not to fill the scripts."

Leonhart weighed in on the scenario of out-of-state customers, writing in her order that "the red flags presented by the circumstances of patients traveling from Kentucky or Tennessee to South Florida to obtain prescriptions … are so obvious that only those who are deliberately ignorant would fill these prescriptions."

Still, CVS argued the pharmacies in Florida were just beginning to see significant increases in oxycodone prescriptions, and there was no evidence that any of the red flags identified by Doering would have been recognized.

CVS and its management, Leonhart stated, "cannot reasonably claim ignorance of the Florida pill mill problem or the legislation enacted by the state."

Testimony during the months-long inquiry and legal battle showed pharmacy employees were aware of the region's top-prescribing physicians.

Some of those identified in Leonhart's report — including Orlando doctor Riyaz Jummani and Winter Park doctor Michael Moyer — have been arrested by local authorities on charges they were prescribing controlled substances to people who didn't have a true medical need for the pills.

A pharmacist at one of the Sanford CVS storesinterviewed by DEA officials said they set a limit each day on how much oxycodone they would dispense, based on inventory and manpower. They dispensed the pillson a first-come, first-served basis, and sometimes the stores met their quotas just 30 minutes after the pharmacy opened.

One pharmacy employee told agents they kept a reserve ofoxycodone on hand for their "real pain patients."

When an investigator asked the pharmacist why she would fill prescriptions for those not considered legitimate pain patients,she said that, "as a pharmacist she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and that basically … she had not been trained to diagnose."

The same pharmacist acknowledged customers came in with bundles of prescriptions known for abuse — a painkiller, an anti-anxiety drug and a muscle relaxer — and often paid cash because they were unemployed and had no medical insurance.

When the agent suggested that the patients might be selling their pills, the pharmacist replied, "I know."